The Dhammapada for Awakening is now available in print and ebook format at Amazon.com.

An excerpt from The Dhammapada for Awakening

“After enjoying the taste of solitude and the taste of peace, one is freed from distress and evil, as one enjoys the taste of spiritual joy. It is good to meet with the saints. Living with them is always sweet. By not meeting fools one can be happy all the time” (Dhammapada 205, 206).

There are two forms of solitude and peace: outer and inner. The outer is a means to the inner, for it is the inner solitude and peace that is needed. Those who possess them are happy whatever the outer conditions of stress may be.

The word translated “saints” is really ariya (arya). So we need not wait to meet supremely great souls, but should seek out the company of those who, like us, are aspiring after a higher mode of life.

In India this is called satsang–company with Truth–for such persons are living truthfully.

The benefits of continued satsang

To live with other seekers is a great advantage, which is why Paramhansa Yogananda put such emphasis on the formation of spiritual communities. The company of other yogis can be the difference between success and failure, for Yogananda also said: “Company is greater than will power.”

One of his fellow disciples told me that whenever his guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, gave instruction in yoga to someone he would ask if they knew anyone who also practiced that form of meditation. If they said they did, he would tell them: “Good. Then make them your only friends and meditate with them as much as possible.”

Just as important as company with other aspirants is the avoidance of fools. Fools come in many flavors, but Yogananda defined a fool as one who is not seeking God. That pretty well covers it all.

Buddha is not exaggerating: By not meeting fools one can be happy all the time. I know this by experience, living in a solitary ashram devoted solely to the purpose of the evolution of its members, and keeping the doors and gate closed to idlers and dabblers who have no interest in devoting their life totally to the quest for Liberation. Blessed peace!

Fools: a great evil

“A man who keeps company with a fool, will suffer for it a long time. It is always painful to live with fools, like with an enemy, but a wise man is good to live with, like meeting up with relatives” (Dhammapada 207).

Now here we have the right attitude. Fools are poison. Some kill slowly and some quickly, but they both kill. That is, by their presence they kill peace of mind and heart, and radiate destructive vibrations.

This is especially true when they are not vegetarians, but radiate the vibrations of the dead bodies they have eaten and assimilated. They are ghouls, feasting on the dead, and their bodies are graveyards.

If they also ingest alcohol and nicotine they are the embodiments of spiritual defilement. They are their own enemies as well as the enemies of others. Behaving like the animals they eat (serious studies are being conducted on this), they disrupt the life of human beings–those who seek liberation.

On the other hand, the wise are our true “kin.”

Seek the Wise

Now Buddha tells us the kind of people to associate with.

“Therefore, if he is a man of understanding and penetration, learned and habitually moral, devout and noble, one should cultivate the company of that just and wise man, in the same way as the moon keeps to a path among the stars” (Dhammapada 208).

Now we know the way to happiness and the way to avoid unhappiness. And it is very simple.

“Mind precedes its objects. They are mind-governed and mind-made” (Dhammpapada 1).

First there is the mind. It is possible to view “mind” as both the machinery of perception we have been talking about and the consciousness which perceives the perception, the consciousness that is unconditioned and permanent–in other words, the spirit, the eternal Self. “The Self is ear of the ear, mind of the mind, speech of speech. He is also breath of the breath, and eye of the eye” (Kena Upanishad 2).

From this higher aspect of Mind all things proceed–in both the macrocosmic and the microcosmic sense. From the Mind of God all things are projected that are found in the cosmos; and from the mind of the individual are projected all that are distinctive to his life.

We are all co-creators with God, even though we have long ago forgotten that and attribute everything that goes on in our life as acts of God. From this delusion erroneous religion has arisen–religion that thinks it necessary to pray to and propitiate God in order for the “good” to come to us and the “bad” to be eliminated from our life. It is this religion and its false God that Buddha adamantly rejected and from which we must be freed if we are to gain any true understanding of what is really happening to us from life to life.

The need for true religion

On the other hand, we need true religion–the conviction and aspiration for the uniting of the finite consciousness with the Infinite Consciousness in eternal Being. The call of the self to the Self is the essence of true religion, and in that sense those who would turn from death to life must be thoroughly religious. Any god that is separate from us is a false god; the true God is the very Self of our self. Though distinct from us, He is not separate. We are eternally one with Him. But we have to realize that–not just intellectually, but through direct experience. And that experience is only possible in meditation.

Seven Important Lessons

All right: mind precedes its objects, which are themselves governed and made by the mind. This has profound implications.

1. Karma is the creation of the mind–is simply the mind in extension. Karma need not be worked out or fulfilled; the mind need only be changed, or better yet brought into complete abeyance. Then karma is no more and its attendant compulsions–including birth and death–no longer exist.

2. Our entire life experience is but a mirroring of the mind. If something is not already within our mind it cannot be projected outward as a (seemingly) external factor or experience of our life. So our life is our mind in motion. By observing it we can come to know what is in our mind, just as by running a film through a projector we come to know what is in it. If we do not like what is happening in our life, the solution is to alter our mind. People who like to tell of how cruel, selfish, dishonest, and disloyal others habitually are to them are merely telling us how cruel, selfish, dishonest, and disloyal they are–potentially if not actually. Victims are only victimizers in a down cycle. The moment the upswing comes in their life rhythms they will go back to victimizing others.

Action and reaction are purely psychological matters, the film in the projector–the light and sound on the screen being only its projection. Change the film and you change the experience. Since objects come from the mind they can only be compatible with the mind and therefore express and reveal its character.

3. All the factors of life are really only thought, attitude, and outlook in manifestation.

4. Study your life and thereby know your mind.

5. You are always in control, even though that control may be on an unconscious level.

6. Change your mind and you change your life. (Do not forget that mind includes consciousness.)

7. Mary Baker Eddy was right: All is Mind and Mind is All.

Special Reminder

Abbot George’s new book Dwelling In The Mirror: A Study of Illusions Produced by Delusive Meditation and How to Be Free from Them is now available in print at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and in ebook format at these online outlets as well as Kobo.com, iBooks, Nook, and Smashwords.

The ebook version of Dwelling in the Mirror is on sale for only a few more days for only 99¢. In August, the ebook will go up to $2.99

“I totally loved this book! After running across many spiritual and self-help books filled with unrealistic promises, this little jewel had the impact of a triple Espresso.”–Sandra Carrington-Smith, author of Housekeeping for the Soul

In part 2 of the recent interview with Abbot George about Buddha’s everyday wisdom as recorded in the Dhammapada, Bianca Vlahos of radio station PBA-FM in Adelaide, South Australia, inquired further about how to lead an effective and uplifting life in the world applying the principles which Buddha advocated.

The catalyst of this interview was when Bianca read a copy of Abbot George’s book The Dhammapada for Awakening (available on our site here and on Amazon here). One aspect of the discussion was the necessity to have patience and perseverance in spiritual endeavor, with Abbot George talking about the saying, “Lighting flashes brightly for only a moment, but the dawning of day is gradual and inevitable.”

How can Buddha’s wisdom as recorded in the Dhammapada be applied in our every-day lives? That was the topic of the latest radio interview of Abbot George Burke by Bianca Vlahos of radio station PBA-FM in Adelaide, South Australia a couple of weeks ago.

Bianca read a copy of Abbot George’s book The Dhammapada for Awakening (available on our site here and on Amazon here) and as usual had very good and practical questions for Abbot George on how to best apply Buddha’s wisdom.

Here is what Bianca wrote on Facebook about her interview: “This is one of the wisest human beings I’ve had the privilege of speaking with. Listening to the wisdom and knowledge of Abbot George Burke is life changing.”

We have divided the podcast into two segments, the first of which you can listen to below. The second installment will follow shortly.

Experience is surely the best teacher, but sometimes its lessons are discouraging. That is why Arjuna told Krishna:

“Restless man’s mind is, so strongly shaken in the grip of the senses: gross and grown hard with stubborn desire for what is worldly. How shall he tame it? Truly, I think the wind is no wilder” (Bhagavad Gita 6:34).

Buddha, who could not have been unaware of Arjuna’s opinion, had this to say on the subject:

Elusive and unreliable as it is, the wise man straightens out his restless, agitated mind, like a fletcher crafting an arrow (Dhammapada 33).

Krishna replied to Arjuna:

“Patiently, little by little, a man must free himself from all mental distractions, with the aid of the intelligent will. He must fix his mind upon the Atman, and never think of anything else. No matter where the restless and the unquiet mind wanders, it must be drawn back and made to submit to the Atman only” (Bhagavad Gita 6:25, 26).

The wayward mind

Buddha lists four characteristics of the mind that render it so difficult to deal with, much less master.

Elusive.

How many people know their minds? Virtually no one. That is why self-analysis (swadhyaya) can be such a revelation. The mind, being a bundle of illusions, has progressed through many incarnations from being a lie to being a liar with an unsettling half-life of its own.

I never thought my mind was worth much consideration, but when I began meditating, and it began to have an effect and thus endanger the mind and ego, I discovered that the mind was virtually a separate person inside me. (In reality, the mind is separate from the Self.) After meditating a while my mind would say: “I am bored. My legs hurt. Why not quit?” If I ignored or told it to shut up it would keep on fussing. One time I said: “That’s right. I am bored. I am going to quit for now.” And my mind became completely quiet. I meditated about twenty more minutes and again my mind announced that it was time to quit. Again I said that I was going to quit, and even said what I was going to do after quitting. Once more: silence of mind. And so it went.

It might seem funny, but it is really frightening.

Within us is an entirely false self–completely false, not a distortion of our real self, though it can imitate it when it suits its purpose. We are all schizophrenic. Our ego/mind is the escaped lunatic that threatens us every moment. It is elusive because it is ever-changing.

This is seen in the account found in the Sri Devi Mahatmyam (Sri Durga Saptashati or Chandi) of the manifestation of the Goddess Durga to vanquish the demon Mahishasura. No matter how much she struck at him with her weapons (and she needed a great many to deal with his many mutations), he kept changing and thereby eluding her. The mind’s capacity to change shape and even become invisible and undetectable is genuinely miraculous. How do you deal with something that can differ from moment to moment and disappear at will? (“What problem?” “What illusion?” “What mind?”)

As we evolve, so does the mind. The bigger we get, the bigger grows the net.

Unreliable.

It is astounding that people almost never face the fact of the mind’s unreliability. (Actually, it never arises in their consciousness, so there is no question of facing it or not.) Again, the mind is a liar. It will tell us anything we want to hear or do not want to hear–whichever is the way to perpetuate its control over us. See how the likes and dislikes of the mind swing back and forth, ever changing. For many years people think they are so devoted to some spiritual ideal and in a moment they become either indifferent or inimical to it. It had always been no more than a puff of air.

Buddha told his disciples that adherence to “views” was an obstacle. Why? Because they spring from the mind and are therefore nothing. Even an interest in Nirvana is meaningless when it comes from the mind rather than the deep intuition of the true Self. Most religion is nonsense because it is mind-based rather than spirit-based. We can count on nothing that the mind produces. “Well, I know one thing…,” says the deluded individual as he teeters on the brink of completely changing his “knowing.” The mind can never be trusted, the “spiritual” mind least of all.

Restless.

Some translators prefer “difficult to guard.” The mind is like a restless horse, a mad elephant, even. How can it be held in check or guarded when it is intent only on that which worsens its condition? The mind constantly demands diversion of all sorts, even delighting in pain and suffering if it can get nothing else as a distraction. As an addict requires larger and larger doses, so does the mind demand increasingly powerful objects and situations for its absorption.

Agitated.

That is what the mind becomes when it does not get its addictions supplied and increased. The mind is desperate in its pursuit of…EVERYTHING. If it had some order to its goals then there might be a chance. But there is nothing it does not want at some time or other, and nothing that it does not equally despise or ignore at some time or other.

The solution: The wise man straightens out his mind

Who would not be overwhelmed at this panorama of determined chaos? Yet the wise man sets himself to the task of straightening out his mind just as a maker of arrows straightens the shaft so it can be sent unerringly to its target by the skilled archer. So after this awful picture we are given hope: the wise man can and does bring the mind under his mastery and renders it accessible, reliable, calm, and content.

How? Krishna put it in the briefest possible way: “Become a yogi” (Bhagavad Gita 6:46). Meditation is the means by which we straighten and sharpen the arrow of the mind.

“When a man is resolute and recollected, pure of deed and persevering, when he is attentive and self-controlled and lives according to the Teaching, his reputation is bound to grow” (Dhammapada 24).

We simply have to face the facts: in spiritual life as in every other endeavor there are thoughts and deeds that hinder and thoughts and deeds that help. The idea that anyone can at any time in any condition live The Life is inexcusably foolish.

Those who refuse to believe that right and wrong, good and bad, exist, or that those classifications apply to their personal life, should take up hobbies and forget Nirvana. Otherwise they simply make a mess of things and insult the Dharma.

Those who wish may pretend that purity of intention or “heart” are sufficient, but Buddha does not think so. He does not talk about theory, but says a seeker must be pure of deed. Words and feelings are not the issue.

A definition of purity: the Five Precepts

Right away the impure and the unqualified will demand a definition of purity so they can argue about it, knowing full well what they are and what they are not–and consequently are not going to be. So Buddha enunciated five precepts that will cover everything pretty well for those who want it covered. (Those who want a cover-up will of course supply their own in the form of misinterpretation of what one or more of the precepts really mean. Here they are:

Abstinence from speaking untruth;

abstinence from intoxication;

abstinence from sexual immorality;

abstinence from theft; and

abstinence from taking life.

These obviously have very wide scopes, especially since the Pali terms and their Sanskrit equivalents have broad meanings. For example, lying can take many forms, even silence. A serious student of dharma will thoughtfully consider each precept in turn and honestly figure out all their forms and applications. I will make only this observation: Although many years ago I was told by a junior high school librarian that Buddha taught “moderation,” even I could see that moderation does not come in here at all. Total abstinence is the intent. Anything less is not the dharma.

Those who follow the precepts will thereby always be pure of deed.

Persevering

Perseverance is included in “resolute.” Just why Richards uses that term here I have no idea, but four other translators understand it as meaning someone who acts with careful consideration, with due analysis before acting. In his teachings Buddha insists on the need for appropriate reflection before acting or speaking–a counsel we transgress untold times each day. But our folly increases rather than diminishes the relevance of Buddha’s admonition.

Attentive

We have just considered what is meant by this, needing only to add that heedfulness should become continuous in our thoughts and deeds, “Watch yourself” being very good advice.

Self-controlled

Many of us suffer from–and suffer because of–what I call the Pinochio Complex. Pinochio lived in the continual hope that one day he would wake up and find himself a real boy instead of a puppet. We think that if we just wait long enough and lounge around the vestibule of spiritual life (reading the magazines in the Dharma Waiting Room) we will one day find ourselves out on the track and on our way–and soon at the goal. We are not really lazy, otherwise we could not even sustain our life on earth, yet effortlessness appeals to us endlessly, especially in spiritual matters. Any yogi who adopts the soap-commercial line about how quick and easy–“just like magic”–it is to meditate and attain enlightenment will sell very well. His customers will not get anything in the long run, but maybe they did not want to, anyway.

Before we can know our true, inmost self, we must first gain control over our untrue, outer “self.” It is this control that is meant by “self-controlled.” And when we attain that control we restrain the false self in all its aspects. Moderation is not the purpose here, either, but eventual effacement so the true self can resurrect, ascend, and reign (the real meaning behind the same events in the life of Christ).

Living according to the Teaching

“Living the Dharma” is a better translation of dhammajivino. This indicates a life based fully on the precepts and extending to all the details that make up the Holy Life. It is much easier to believe, accept, discuss and even teach dharma, but Buddha tells us to live it. Excessive involvement in philosophy, theology, and scriptural (textual) study is an evasion of dharma in its only meaningful form: as a way of life.

Putting it all together, Buddha still says it best: “When a man is resolute and recollected, pure of deed and persevering, when he is attentive and self-controlled and lives according to the Teaching, his reputation [glory] is bound to grow.”

This article is an excerpt from The Dhammapada for Awakening: A Commentary on the Buddha’s Practical Wisdom, by Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri), available at Amazon.com in print and Kindle formats.

Here are excerpts of some of the Amazon reviews:

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“There is no modern scholar who in my opinion has a better grasp of these topics than Abbot George. Highly recommended for the sincere seeker who is not content with labels, but wishes to understand. You will find no better living teacher than this one.”

★★★★★ THE translation you NEED to own!

“…I would go as far as to say this is a must read for anyone trying to further their understanding of not only the teaching of the Buddha but the teachings contained in Christianity and Hinduism as well…. If I was teaching a course on Comparative Religion, Buddhism or any religious studies course I would have this on the must read list.”

★★★★★My summary of The Dhammapada For Awakening

“…Full of no-nonsense wisdom along with the insights of a lifetime, I get a clear sense, not only of the Father’s personal knowledge, but also of how well he blends it in with the enduring knowledge of the Dhammapada itself. This is a valuable read.”

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This site presents the path of meditation and practical spiritual life and is a service of Light of the Spirit Monastery (Atma Jyoti Ashram), which is located in Cedar Crest, New Mexico, USA.

This site is inspired by and dedicated to Paramhansa Yogananda, who introduced yoga meditation and the goal of self realization to the American people, and whose writings reveal the underlying unity of original Christianity and original Yoga.